Part 1
The first verse is by its subject linked with the chapter just closed, rather than with the eleventh,
“Be ye followers of me” (or my imitators) “even as I also am of Christ”, should be read with verses 31, 32 and 33.
In the second verse, practically alone in the epistle, the Holy Spirit in the Apostle Paul could commend something in the ways of the believers at Corinth, “Now I praise you, that in all things ye are mindful of me, and that, as I have directed you, ye keep the directions” (JND).
They had not then, as we have, the complete written Word of God, but the instructions they had received from Paul they had kept.
Fitly at this point the Holy Spirit introduces the subject of divine order in the conduct of believers. God has been pleased to make His Word full of instruction for the Christian; indeed He has left nothing to the activities of the human mind, though that has not kept back men, and believers too, from substituting their own ideas for what is written. As far as verse 16, the instructions set forth the divine order with regard to men and to women; after that, the church or assembly of God is in view through succeeding chapters.
In our day, there is not a little disregard of what the Scriptures set out as the place for women to occupy, but let us give close heed to the infallible Word of God; better far to have God’s Word to lean upon, than all the opinions of human kind.
Verse 3. Christ or “the Christ”, as it is in the original – viewing Him not as what He ever was, God over all, blessed for evermore, but in the place He took as the Anointed – Christ is the head of every man, but woman’s head is the man; and the Christ’s head is God. Later verses make plain the wisdom of the divine ordering in so setting the positions of Christian women and men here on earth. This is not for eternity, not in new creation; for there, as we read in Galatians 3:28-2928There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. 29And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. (Galatians 3:28‑29),
“There is neither Jew nor Greek; there is neither bond nor free; there is neither male nor female; for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.”
“Every man praying or prophesying, having anything on his head, puts his head to shame; but every woman praying or prophesying with her head uncovered, puts her own head to shame, for it is one and the same as a shaved woman. For if a woman be not covered, let her hair also be cut off. But if it be shameful to a woman to have her hair cut off, or to be shaved, let her be covered. For man indeed ought not to have his head covered, being God’s image and glory; but woman is man’s glory. For man is not of woman, but woman of man. For also man was not created for the sake of the woman, but woman for the sake of the man” (verses 4-9 JND).
Here we are led back to what God instituted in the beginning. See Genesis 1:26, 27; 2:7-8, 18-2326And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. 27So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. (Genesis 1:26‑27)
7And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. 8And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. (Genesis 2:7‑8)
18And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. 19And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. 20And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him. 21And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; 22And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. 23And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. (Genesis 2:18‑23). “Image” is in Scripture not likeness but representation. Adam was to represent God in the earth; he fell, and the race fell in him, but as another has said, however man may have fallen, divine order in creation never loses its value as the expression of the mind of God. And man keeps the place, though he has fallen in it – the same place in which God put him.
The first man was the image of Him that was to come (Rom. 5:1414Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come. (Romans 5:14)), the Second Man (1 Cor. 15:4747The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven. (1 Corinthians 15:47)). And Eve, the companion and help meet of Adam, is very plainly a type of the bride of Christ, the church for whom He gave Himself. It is striking how the angels are brought in, in the consideration of the subject of woman’s place. In Hebrews 1:1414Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation? (Hebrews 1:14) they are seen as ministering spirits sent out for service on account of those who shall inherit salvation; and in 1 Peter 1:1212Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into. (1 Peter 1:12) we learn that they desire to look into the present dealing of God in grace with man but here in verse 10 they are spectators of the effect of those dealings in Christians. The Christian woman therefore should have authority on her head – should wear a covering – on account of the angels.
Man is not of woman, but woman of man; man was not created for the sake of the woman, but woman for the sake of the man. However (verses 11-12) neither is woman without man, nor man without woman, in the Lord. For as the woman is of the man, so also is the man by the woman, but all things of God.
The subject believer, delights in these unfoldings of the mind of God, and seeks to walk in the light of them, but how contrary to what we have read, is the behavior of many women in this age!
In verse 13 comeliness calls for the covering of a woman’s head while praying (verses 14-15). Even nature itself teaches that man, if he have long hair, it is a dishonor to him; but woman, if she have long hair, it is glory to her, for the long hair is given to her in lieu of a veil. The twentieth century has brought in many innovations, among them, in extreme cases, the cutting of women’s hair similar to man’s. In view of what we have in the Scriptures now before us, this cannot be of God.
Verse 16. At Corinth, it is evident, some Christian women were not following what is here revealed as of God for them; and it may be that some Christian men were at fault similarly.
“But if any one think to be contentious, we have no such custom, nor the assemblies of God” (verse 16, JND). The Corinthian “custom” was an innovation, and neither the Apostle sanctioned it, nor did the assemblies elsewhere.
Before leaving this section of the epistle, it may be well to point out that the praying and prophesying of women referred to in this chapter was and is of necessity outside of the meetings of the church (or assembly). It could not have been in a public way, for in chapter 14, silence is called for in the assemblies (verses 34-35), and in 1 Timothy 2:8-158I will therefore that men pray every where, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting. 9In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array; 10But (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works. 11Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. 12But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. 13For Adam was first formed, then Eve. 14And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. 15Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety. (1 Timothy 2:8‑15) further instruction is given regarding the place of women. Nothing in Scripture closes the door to service for them; an important work (among many) is teaching the young, or their own sex, in or out of Sunday Schools.
Three women at Rome whom the Apostle names in Romans 16:1212Salute Tryphena and Tryphosa, who labor in the Lord. Salute the beloved Persis, which labored much in the Lord. (Romans 16:12) – Tryphena and Tryphosa, and the beloved Persis, labored in the Lord. What they did, the Holy Spirit has not recorded in the Scriptures.
Prophesying, in the Scriptures, is by no means limited to the foretelling of what is to come; it is literally “speaking forth” a communication received from God.
(To be continued)